Do you Know Your Mosquito-borne Diseases?

We may not realize it but mosquitoes–those annoying buzzers that interrupt our sleep–are also the deadliest animals in the world. The diseases that mosquitoes carry and transmit kill 725,000 people worldwide every year. Take our Eureka quiz and see how much you know about the diseases that mosquitoes transmit.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare condition that occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks parts of the nervous system. In extreme cases, the nerve inflammation leads to paralysis. What mosquito-borne virus in the news recently appeared to trigger cases of GBS?

Cholera

Zika

Dengue

Ebola

Correct!

Wrong!

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The World Health Organization considers dengue, spread by the same mosquitoes that transmit Zika, to be the fastest-spreading vector-borne viral disease in the world. Which US state battled a major outbreak of dengue two years ago that resulted in 260 cases?

Florida

California

Louisiana

Hawaii

Correct!

Wrong!

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Brazil is the epicenter of the 175,000 confirmed cases of Zika reported last year in the Americas. What other virus spread by the Aedes aegypti has reappeared in Brazil after being eradicated by global health authorities in the 1940s.

Malaria

Smallpox

Yellow fever

Chikungunya

Correct!

Wrong!

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In 1959, the New Jersey Shore’s tourism industry was decimated when 34 people became sickened, and 21 died, of a mysterious illness later traced to salt-marsh mosquitoes. What was the disease?

Eastern Equine Encephalitis

Western Equine Encephalitis

La Crosse Encephalitis

West Nile virus

Correct!

Wrong!

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The Chikungunya virus, spread by Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, is rampant in the Caribbean, but two years ago nearly a dozen Florida residents also contracted the virus, which primarily causes excruciating joint pain. What does Chikungunya mean?

Mighty chicken dance

Crazy bugs

Wings of harm

That which bends up

Correct!

Wrong!

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Malaria, spread by female Anopheles mosquitoes, has impacted quite a few US Presidents. Which president first contracted malaria at age 17 in Virginia?

Patrick Henry

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

George Washington

Correct!

Wrong!

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Which US president contracted malaria while in the Solomon Islands during World War II?

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Richard Nixon

John F. Kennedy

George H. W. Bush

Correct!

Wrong!

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In 1937, regulators approved a vaccine to fight the yellow fever. What is the only other mosquito-borne virus for which a vaccine was approved?

Dengue

Malaria

West Nile virus

Zika

Correct!

Wrong!

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St. Louis Encephalitis, spread mainly by Culex mosquitoes, was named for a large epidemic that broke out in this Missouri city in 1933. Where was La Crosse Encephalitis first identified?

Wisconsin

Mississippi

Illinois

Ohio

Correct!

Wrong!

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West Nile virus originated in Uganda in 1937. "Cleopatra" (starring Elizabeth Taylor) premiered in the US in 1963. When and where did West Nile virus first appear in North America?